Edgar McGowan, former state Labor Department director, dies

<p>Former South Carolina Labor Department director Edgar McGowan has died at age 83.</p><p>McGowan, who died Friday, was appointed to the post by Gov. John West in 1971. He retired in 1989, after Gov. Carroll Campbell was elected.</p><p>McGowan established the Division of Labor-Management Services to handle disputes between employers and employees in 1973.</p><p>He once served as treasurer of the South Carolina Democratic Party.</p><p>South Carolina is not friendly to organized labor, said Don Fowler, former Democratic National Committee chairman.</p><p>But he (McGowan) got along with both management and labor, Fowler said.</p><p>He made it clear that his job was to enforce the laws of the state, Fowler said.</p><p>McGowan was an accounting professor at the University of South Carolina for 25 years.</p><p>He always said that he was happiest when he was teaching his students, said his wife, Mildred McGowan.</p><p>After his retirement, he jointed the Columbia offices of Constangy, Brooks and Smith, an Atlanta-based law firm.</p><p>In addition to his wife, he is survived by his son, E. Linden McGowan, of Jacksonville, Fla., and a grandson, Jonathan McGowan of Gainesville, Fla.</p><p>A funeral was planned Monday at Cameron Cemetery in Cameron.</p>